Affections Touching Across Time
by maybecaitie89
Summary: My own version of the end.


**Author's Note:** The ending of the anime didn't really feel right to me (no spoilers in case you haven't seen it), so I thought of a little something on my own. Hope you like it!

**Disclaimer:** Inuyasha does not (and probably will not ever) belong to me.

"You better hurry back, wench; we still haven't beaten Naraku." Inuyasha reminded her of a spoiled child, but she loved him anyway.

"Bring me back more ninja food!" Shippou jumped up and down before squeezing the hell out of her leg in an embrace.

"Good luck on your tests." Sango gave her a smile and a wave.

"Miss Kagome," Mirouku never got to finish what he was going to say.

"Pervert!" Hiraikotsu came crashing down on his head and he collapsed, twitching, onto the ground.

"Bye! I'll be back in a few days." She stepped to the edge of the old well. After one more glance back at her friends, she jumped in. The bright light surrounded her but her arrival into the present was not as easy as it usually was. Her backpack was no longer on her back, and she was laying on something. Pounding echoed her pulse throughout her head. As she slowly opened her eyes, she saw that she was not in the well at all.

Beeping machines surrounded the tiny cot she was lying in. There was a sleeping person in a small bed on either side of her. Kagome tried to sit up, but her muscles wouldn't let her; her body suddenly felt heavy and strange. What had happened; how had she gotten here from the well? A petit blonde woman walked in with a medical cart but stopped in her tracks when she saw Kagome.

"Are you awake?" At Kagome's nod, the nurse hurriedly began checking all the readouts.

"Where am I?" Kagome's voice was scratchy.

"You're at the hospital. Hold on, I have to call your family. Don't go anywhere!" She rushed out of the room and began talking animatedly with a brunette at the nurse's station. Kagome was unable to do anything but lay there as two nurses and a doctor stood around her reading clipboards and saying numbers. Her mother and grandfather came running into the room after about twenty minutes.

"Kagome! Thank god you're awake!" She tried again to sit up when her mom ran over, but one of the nurses eased her back down.

"You aren't ready to sit up yet, Kagome."

"What are you talking about? What happened? Will someone tell me?" She looked anxiously from one face to the next.

"You've been in a coma for about seven months." The doctor looked at her, his face deadly serious.

"Inuyasha is going to kill me!" She brought her hands to her face and tried not to imagine the fit he was going to have the next time he saw her.

"Who's Inuyasha?" Kagome's mom gave her a worried look.

"Stop playing with me, mom, you know Inuyasha. He's probably been over almost every day bugging you about me being here."

"Houjou's been asking about you. Those flowers on the table are from him."

"Not Houjou, Inuyasha. Come on mom, this isn't funny anymore."

"Do you remember the day Buyou was hiding in the well house?"

"Uh huh, but I don't get where this is going."

"Souta told us that Buyou ran around your feet and you tripped."

"No," her eyes got wide.

"You fell into the old well; luckily, it's dried up. You hit your head and you've been here ever since."

"No!"

"What do you mean 'no?'"

"That isn't what happened. You're wrong! Let me up now! I need to go!"

"Kagome, please calm down." Her mother grasped one of Kagome's hands. After a few minutes and the doctor's help, she managed to calm Kagome down.

"Okay, I'm fine now." Kagome lied.

"Since she has been motionless for such a long time, we will have to keep her here for at least a month and then have regular appointments for physical therapy." The doctor looked seriously at Kagome's mother and grandfather.

"Yes, doctor. Thank you." Her mother bowed.

"Also I would suggest counseling to help her deal with the fantasy world she seems to have created for herself."

"Of course. Can that be done here at the hospital?" Kagome's mother asked the doctor.

"We can arrange to have it done by someone in the psychiatric wing and bill your insurance company."

"Thank you so much, doctor." Both Kagome's mother and grandfather bowed low, and the doctor left the room. Her family refused to leave her bedside until visiting hours ended, but Kagome had drifted back to sleep soon after the doctor left.

Three weeks after she woke up, Kagome was released from the hospital and allowed to go back to the shrine.

"It will be so nice to have you around the house again, Kagome, I've missed your smiling face." Her grandfather began listing off all the projects he was going to need help with.

"I missed home so much." It was the truth; part of the reason she had been on her way back was because she hadn't been to her own time in a long time.

"Are you sure that you're okay?"

"I'm sure; I didn't even know that I fell." They began the long walk up the steps to their small shrine. After reassuring her family that she was all right, Kagome went up to her room. As she gazed around the familiar place, memories flooded her heart. The time Inuyasha burst into her room completely naked after a bad experience with the bath; the time she was sick and he made her the liver potion (she sat him after she found out what it was); the time he came through her window when her friends were alone in her room; all the times he peered over her shouldering questioning the math textbook that appeared to be in a different language. She looked over to the window half expecting to see his scowling face leering in at her.

Her room was depressingly empty. The big yellow backpack was lying on the floor and Kagome rushed over to it. Desperately, she searched for the shards, one of Shippou's drawings, ramen, anything to prove that it wasn't a dream. Souta came home from school to find her weeping with her backpack clutched tightly in her hands, surrounded by textbooks.

"Nee-chan! You're home!" He wrapped his arms around her.

"Souta! You must remember him, please tell me you do." Kagome stared with an almost pathetically pleading look.

"Who? Kagome, are you okay?"

"You know, Inuyasha." After receiving a blank look from Souta, she began to panic. "Inu-no-nii-chan? Please, ask the next time he's coming back. How are things between you and that girl? You must remember that he and I helped you work up the courage to ask her out. Please, don't tell me I'm crazy!"

"You're scaring me, nee-chan. I've never even heard of Inuyasha, and especially not a dog brother." He slowly backed away.

"No," Kagome whispered the word before collapsing onto her floor, sobbing.

"Mom!" Souta ran down the hallway in search of someone who could help. Kagome melted into her mother's embrace, but her crying didn't cease.

The next day, Kagome insisted on going to school. She claimed it would help her get back into the swing of things. Kagome began the walk to her high school; Souta followed her as far as his elementary school. Her mother had called the school, and after twenty minutes on the phone, the school agreed to keep Kagome with her class instead of keeping her back.

Houjou met Kagome at the office. He volunteered to show her around to all her classes; normally, Kagome would have been flattered, but she couldn't help thinking of how jealous Inuyasha would be.

"Kagome, it's nice to see you back in school. We all missed you, a lot. I brought you this therapeutic pillow, so you'll be able to sleep soundly now that you're awake." He handed her a bag, and she smiled.

"Thanks, Houjou. I missed you too. Where are Ayumi, Eri, and Yuki?"

"They're in our first class, History."

"Have I missed a lot since I've been gone?"

"Yeah, but I'll tutor you if you want. I take good notes." He gave her a big smile before insisting that she let him carry her big yellow backpack. They walked into the classroom and her three best friends came running up to her.

"Kagome! You're back! Ohmigosh we missed you!" They were all talking at the same time so she couldn't tell who said what, but she hugged them all. The teacher entered the room and they all stood and greeted him before taking their seats.

"Good morning, class. Today we will continue our discussion about the Warring States Era." Everyone took out their notebooks and waited for the teacher to continue speaking.

"You've got to be kidding me." Kagome murmured under her breath.

"Many folk tales involving demons have survived to this day, can someone tell us a few of the most common demons, according to this story?" Cautiously, Kagome raised her hand. "Yes, Kagome."

"Dog, raccoon, and fox?" Images of her friends went through her mind.

"Very good, does anyone else know…" Oblivious to her mental suffering, the lecture continued on. When the bell rang, she followed Houjou out of the room and in the direction of the math classroom.

"Can you hold on, Houjou? I need to get a drink of water." Kagome walked over to the water fountain. She pressed the button and the water bubbled up. Shippou would think it was magic; Inuyasha would probably try to Kaze no Kizu it. Right as she was about to turn around, she felt a hand on her butt.

"Excuse me, want to go somewhere after school with me?" His voice was the same even though his greeting was different. Just the sound of his familiar voice sent her over the edge. People stopped to look at the highschooler who had collapsed, sobbing, in the middle of the hallway.

"Goddamnit, Mirouku, you've done it now. You actually made a girl cry, you pervert." The slap that accompanied the second voice caused her to look up.

"I'm very sorry, Miss, there was no excuse for the way I behaved." The girl standing next to him released his arm from behind his back after he apologized.

"Are you okay? My name's Sango, and I promise he won't bother you ever again." Sango glared at Mirouku, and if she had had Hiraikotsu, he'd be dead.

"Hey, Sango, I'm Kagome." She took hold of Sango's outstretched hand and stood back up.

"Kagome, are you okay?" Houjou was by her side as soon as she stood up.

"I'm fine, Houjou." She turned back to face Sango and Mirouku. "Did you two come to this school while I was out?"

"Yeah, I came about a week after he transferred." Sango nodded her head in the direction of Mirouku.

"She's the only one who makes school worth it." Mirouku smiled dreamily at Sango while she turned the color of a tomato.

"Are there any other new students?" Kagome looked from Houjou, to Sango, to Mirouku.

"I don't think so. Whom were you wondering about?" Houjou tried to regain Kagome's soul attention.

"No one? No one named Inuyasha?"

"I'd remember that name." Houjou screwed up his face, obviously thinking. "But, we better hurry so we aren't late for math."

"Maybe we could have lunch together?" Kagome looked back at Sango.

"Of course, see you then." Mirouku followed Sango down the hallway; he didn't have much of a choice, though, she had his ear in her strong fist.

During math class, Kagome paid no attention to the teacher. She doodled in her notebooks while everyone talked about unfamiliar things. By the end of class, she had little drawings all over the page. Inuyasha, the Shikon jewel, Shippou, Hiraikotsu, Hachi, and other memories littered the page.

"What's that?" Houjou pointed to Inuyasha in mid Kaze no Kizu.

"Someone from a dream I had." Kagome got a sad look in her eyes, and Houjou asked no more from her.

When it was time for lunch, Kagome found Sango and Mirouku right away. She convinced Houjou to leave her alone with the two images of her past.

"So, Sango, why did you move here?" Kagome began talking as soon as Houjou walked away.

"Well, I used to live in the next town over. My family found an old dojo for sale here, so we moved."

"A dojo?"

"Yeah, my father teaches martial arts."

"Sango's mastered them." Mirouku pointed at a fading bruise for emphasis.

"You deserved everything." She brandished her fist at him.

"What about you, Mirouku?"

"He's studying to be a monk!" Sango laughed as she said it.

"What? I'm a very good monk." He pouted when she began to laugh harder. "My uncle and I were studying different meditation techniques in Tibet, but he decided I should get at least a taste of public education."

"Have you studied Japanese scriptures too?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was wondering if you'd heard of a priestess named Midoriko."

"Sounds kind of familiar."

"Do you remember anything about the Shikon Jewel?"

"Never heard of it."

"Why do you want to know about that stuff?" Sango stared at Kagome intently.

"Just curious." Kagome smiled at them, and they moved on to talk about more gossipy subjects. After a while, Houjou came back and hovered around Kagome some more. When school was over, Houjou insisted on walking Kagome home. She walked as if in a trance, though he tried valiantly to keep a conversation going.

Kagome dropped her backpack in her room walking outside. The door of the old well house was half open, and it was cool inside. She sat heavily on the last step and stared at the well. Memories of her friends, who she had seen only a few days ago, flooded her mind. Slowly, she stood and walked to the edge of the well. There was still a chance that it wasn't a dream; Inuyasha could be waiting for her. With one hand on the top of the well, she swung her feet over and let herself drop. Her eyes closed in anticipation of the flash of blue light that would carry her to where she wanted to be.

A sickening crunch accompanied her arrival at the bottom of the well. She lifted her tear filled eyes toward the sky and instead saw the roof of the well house. The throbbing in her left leg kept her from standing, and the lump in her throat kept her from yelling for help.

Time passed. She wasn't sure how much, but it was getting dark. Someone would call her down from her room for dinner soon. How long would it take for them to notice she wasn't inside the house? How long until they found her? A shiver shook her frail body as the night chill cut through her. She closed her eyes and hoped that someone would find her soon.

"Kagome?" Her brother's voice lifted her from the light sleep she had fallen into. A beam of light shone down the well and illuminated her. "Mom! I found her!"

At the small price of a broken ankle, Kagome verified that she really was awake. However, even that knowledge didn't stop her from sitting by the well every chance she got. She was convinced that Inuyasha would come for her eventually. Living with that unrealistic hope caused her to ignore Houjou even more than she did before the accident. Eventually, he moved on to a girl who paid more attention to him, and Kagome was left to wait for her imaginary love alone. Her affections touched across time in the most literal sense of the word, and her voice would never be able to reach him again.


End file.
